Cupboard catch



Nov. 16, 1948- H. QUIGLEY ETAL CUPBOARD CATCH Filed June 25, I945 InHer"ber( u Patented Nov. 1, i948 cornoann CATCH Herbert Quigleyand'Albert F. Lickteig, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors to National BrassCompany, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application June25, 1945, Serial No. 601,380

6 Claims. (01. 292-45) 1 r 1 This invention relates to catches,generally known as cupboard catches, in which a door when swung shut isyieldingly retained in closed position but is readily opened upon a pullthereon. Such catches are used in conjunction with light doors which donot need to be held closed with anything approaching complete surety,nor need they be held tightly closed, for example, as in refrigerators,to prevent the entrance of heat, but are to be opened and closed easilyand readily, and held closed against accidental or aimless opening.

It is a primary object and purpose of the present invention to provide avery novel, practical, economically manufactured and easily installedcatch of the character noted and in which there is an automaticconformance of the catch to the keeper which engages therewith if thekeeper is not mounted in substantially an exact alinement with thecatch, or if it gets out of alinement due to swelling orwarping becauseof atmospheric conditions, of the parts to which the catch and keeperare secured; or for any other reason. The economy and ease of assemblyof the structure is also a feature of value in connection with it.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which-Fig. l is a side elevation of the catch connected with its associatedkeeper, the first mounted at the inner side of a cupboard casing and thelatte on the door.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the latch and keeperseparated and the keeper housing in vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a section and plan view substantially on the plane of line 3-3of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section substantially on the plane of line 4-4 ofFig. 2, the sections being taken looking in the directions indicated,and

Fig. 5 is a perspective drawing showing the elements of the latchstructure and keeper in disassembled condition.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figuresof the drawing.

The keeper maybe mounted at the inner side of the door I and the latchat the inner side of one vertical side 2 of the cupboard casing andadjacent its front edge. The keeper is made from a single length ofmetal bent substantially midway between its ends to provide upper andlower slightly diverging horizontal sections 3 integrally connected by atransverse bend at 4. From the ends of the sections 3 base flanges 5 arebent in opp site directions and are adapted to lie against the innerside of the door I and have screws or other equivalent fastenings passthrough openings therein. I

In the structure of the latch which is mounted on the cupboard casing, ahousing made from sheet metal is provided having an open inner side, anouter side 6 which is slotted horizontally substantially midway betweenits upper and lower edges for a distance to provide a'relatively wideslot I, a back 8 and upper and lower sides 9 which, at their outer ends,are bent inwardly toward each other at an angle to the horizontalproviding spaced angularly disposed flanges l0 spaced apart and onelocated opposite the other. The housing at its rear end has a flatsection H extending therefrom through which screws may be passed tosecure such housing to the inner side The shoe is located between theback 8 and the partly open front of the housing, and at its outer edgehas a lateral tongue or extension l3 which passes through the slot 1 andis bent rearwardly terminating in a widened portion i3a (Fig. 5), widerthan the slot 1, and serving as a guide for the shoe against the outerside of the side 6 of the housing. At its inner edges the shoe is formedwith an integral forwardly extending side plate l4 which is locatedagainst the inner side of the side 2 of the cupboard casing wheninstalled in place. Said shoe at its middle and at its rear side may beprovided with a rearwardly extending projection l5 which is inhorizontal alinement with a similar projection 8a' extending into thehousing from the back 8. A coiled compression spring I! is seated at itsends over said projections, being disposed between the central part ofthe shoe and the back of the housing. Between the annularly inclinedsections i2a of the shoe and the flanges l U of the housing, upper andlower rollers iii are located, being normally held against each otherand pressed against the flanges H) by spring l'I.

With the keeper mounted on the door and the latch on the side of thecupboard casing and with the projecting portion or tongue of the keeperlocated horizontally in a generally horizontal plane coincident with andtangent to the point of contact engagement of the rollers [6, as shownin Fig. 2, on moving the door from an open posi- 2,4ss,ess

tion, as in Fig. 2, to closed position, as in Figs. 1 and 3, the roundedend I of the keeper passes between the rollers, separating them andmoving them in opposite directions. The rollers riding on the innersides of the inclined flanges III are moved inwardly against theoppositely inclined shoe end sections I 2a to compress the spring I1,said rollers being subjected to a camming or wedging action between theparts It and II. The spring, tending to move the shoe outwardly againstsaid rollers, the rollers are in effect wedged between the inclined orcam surfaces of the shoe and of the flanges Ill, causing them to pressagainst opposite sides of the keeper tongue. Opening the door isaccomplished merely by a pull from the outside thereon applied to anyhandle or knob secured to the door.

If the tongue consisting of the sections 3 and the bend at 4 is out ofalinement with the contact engagement points of the rollers It, forexample above it a short distance, it will first strike the uppermostroller forcing it upwardly and to the rear because of its riding againstthe upper flange l0, and the shoe M will tilt rearwardly at its upperportion. The lower roller will come upwardly against the lower side ofthe keeper and said tongue be frictionally engaged and heldsubstantially the same as though the tongue was in direct horizontalalinement with the engagement points of the rollers.

'The structure is of few parts, all very quickly and readilymanufactured by quantity production methods. The assembly requireslittle except locating the parts within the housing and applying theplate II, which plate may be secured in place after the assembly iscomplete. Of course the invention is not limited necessarily to mountingthe keeper at the inner side of the door and the latch at the inner sideof one vertical side of the cupboard casing as, with slightmodification, each could be mounted at the outer side of the door orcupboard casing instead. .The invention is not to be restricted to thespecific form and location set forth but is to be comprehensive of allforms of structure coming within the scope of the appended claims whichdefine the invention.

I claim:

1. A catch including a housing support open at one side for receiving akeeper inserted therein, said housing support above and below saidopening having inclined flanges converging outwardly toward each other,two rollers, one located to bear against the inner side of each flange,and a spring pressed shoe back of said rollers, said shoe bearingagainst the rollers and forcing them against said flanges and normallyinto contact engagement with each other.

2. A catch as described comprising, a housing support having a verticalouter side, said housing at itsouter side being open between its top andbottom, and including two flanges one above and one below said opening,said flanges being inclined and converging outwardly toward each other,two rollers, one back of each of said flanges,

and a curved shoe within the housing back of the rollers, the ends ofsaid shoe bearing against said rollers, pressure spring means actingupon said shoe to force it against said rollers to move the 4 rollersagainst the inner sides of the flanges and toward each other.

3. A catch as described comprising, a housin suDDorthaving a verticalouter side with a substantially horizontal slot therein from its outerfiside toward the rear side of the housing, said housing at its outer sidebeing open between its top and bottom, and including two flanges oneabove and one below said opening, said flanges being inclined andconverging outwardly toward each other, two rollers, one back of each ofsaid flanges, a curved shoe within the housing back of the rollers, theends of said shoe bearing against'said rollers, pressure spring meansacting upon said shoe to force it against said rollers, thereby forcingthe rollers against the inner sides of the flanges and toward each otherand a lateral tongue on said shoe extending into said slot in the sideofthe housing.

4. In a catch, a housing support having an open side for the entrance ofan elongated keeper tongue thereinto, two rollers carried in the housingbetween which said keeper tongue is adapted to be passed, bearingsurfaces on said housing against which said rollers engage, and springactuated means pressing against said rollers to force them against thebearing surfaces, said surfaces being so located with respect to eachother and to the rollers that force of the spring means acting on therollers moves said rollers normally into a yielding contact engagementwith each other.

5. In a catch of the class described, a housing having a vertical outerside, a back, and a horizontal top and bottom, said top and bottom attheir outer end portions having outwardly inclined converging flangesextending therefrom, the free edges of said flanges being spaced apartproviding an opening at the front side of the housing for the entranceof an elongated keeper therein, two rollers one disposed against therear side of each of said flanges, a shoe located vertically within thehousing bearing against said rollers adjacent its ends and above thecenter'of the upper roller and below the center of the lower roller, anda coiled compression spring bearing at one end against the rear side ofthe shoe and at its other end against the inner side of the back of'saidhousing.

6. A construction defined in claim 5, said, vertical side of the housinghaving a horizontal slot extending from the open front side of thehousing rearwardly toward but terminating REFERENCES crrnn The followingreferences are of record in the file of this patent.

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,210,989 Sutherland Aug. 13,1940 2,317,277 Knuth Apr. 20, 1948

